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1. (1) Tasty by Chelsea Winter (Allen & Unwin)
There must have been plenty of dishes of Chelsea Winter’s Noodly Peanut Stir-Fry and Aloo Palak whipped up over the break. The MasterChef NZ winner’s latest cookbook, chock-full of plant-rich comfort food as it is, has held tight to the top of the bestsellers’ charts. It’s been four years since the mega-selling Supergood, largely because Winter got pregnant while writing it. As she told the Listener: “Tasty is a plant-based book, but it’s not staunchly plant-based. I’ve designed it to be flexible. If someone wants to use a recipe as fully plant-based – great. If they want to sub in a bit of cheese and cream – perfect. If they want to serve it alongside a cut of meat or chuck some chicken or fish in one of the curries – perfect. It’s for every kind of eater.” She replaced refined sugar in recipes with the likes of coconut sugar after seeing the effects on her children. “Man, my children don’t need any more energy.” For recipes from Tasty, go here.
2. (2) More Salad by Margo Flanagan & Rosa Power (A&U)
The latest cookbook from sisters Margo Flanagan and Rosa Power, which promises more of the same tasty-looking food that delivered them previous bestsellers. Neither are vegetarian nor vegan, they just encourage moderation in all things. Recipes go from raw to pan to oven, as well as desserts. Included are swappable ingredients, tips and timesavers, and pairing suggestions. You’ll find recipes from the book here.
3. (4) The Songbirds of Florence by Olivia Spooner (Moa Press) The new book from the bestselling Kiwi author of The Girl from London is a rewarding read, said the Listener: “In her second novel, Olivia Spooner shines a light on a little-known group of Kiwi women, the Tuis, who were sent first to Egypt and then on to Italy during World War II. The women were sent in support of the New Zealand Second Division, headed by Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg. The Tuis were the brainchild of his wife, Lady Barbara Freyberg, and part of the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps. In June 1942, the Tuis arrived in Cairo, when the Germans were winning the war in North Africa, played out in harsh desert conditions. The Tuis worked in the NZ Army clubs, often requisitioned hotels, where soldiers came for R&R during their breaks from fighting … As the story starts in Cairo, we’re quickly invested in the main characters. There’s Margot, a grief-stricken young widow from Masterton whose husband died in Crete. Bookish and quiet, she’s happiest working in the library at the club, talking with soldiers seeking a refuge. Addy, her roommate, is a beautiful livewire, delighted to have broken away from her conservative Auckland family and making the most of every new experience … The reality of a long, cruel war far from home is well portrayed by Spooner. Her characters are richly developed and real, her descriptions of the locations, from Cairo to Bari, Rome and Florence, well drawn.”
4. (5) The Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl Gone by Gareth Ward & Louise Ward (Penguin)
“When we opened Sherlock Tomes people warned us that we’d made a terrible mistake. People warned us that e-readers were taking over. People warned us that we’d never compete with Amazon. The one thing they didn’t warn us about was the murders.”
And so begins this first joint novel from actual Hawke’s Bay booksellers Gareth and Louise Ward, a cosy murder-mystery that promises bookshop insider titbits and literary puns galore. The plot has Garth and Eloise and their dog Stevie, who, telling the story in alternate chapters, “are drawn into the baffling case of a decades-old missing schoolgirl. Intrigued by the puzzling, bookish clues the two ex-cops are soon tangled in a web of crime, drugs and floral decapitations, while endeavouring to pull off the international celebrity book launch of the century.”
A follow-up novel is out later this year. Learn how Gareth and Louise Ward’s previous careers as UK police officers helped them write The Bookshop Detectives.
5. (3) Kāwai: Tree of Nourishment by Monty Soutar (David Bateman)
As the Listener’s review notes (you can read it here), Monty Soutar picks up the narrative where Kāwai: For Such a Time as This left off. “The advent of muskets placed the power of fire and death into the hands of any iwi with the cunning, the connections and the economic capacity to possess them. In so doing, the musket undermined the foundations of Māori society, including the mana of the tohunga, upending their command of magic and their bond with the spirit world through its blind disregard for the sacred pageantry of war, death and the interweaving of these things with all that is tapu. This in turn paved the way for European missionaries to bring stories of a different god, a new perspective on faith and the sanctity of life and irrevocable change. Soutar uses this narrative to explore the power of words, the writings of men who claimed to be holy and the fractious ink of Te Tiriti, whose intentions remain contested to this day.”
6. (8) Kataraina by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press)
As the Listener’s interview with Manawatu notes that a swamp, or kūkūwai, runs under and through Kataraina. “It is a shifting, changing body of water – an expansive wetland, a drained and lifeless bog, a deep lagoon. Like poet Seamus Heaney’s Irish bogs preserving Iron Age bodies in places where ‘there is no reflection’, it is a repository for memories of ancestral violence and retribution. As Aunty Moira says in the book, ‘That kūkūwai is all roimata. Tears.’
“Kataraina takes up the story of Kataraina Te Au, Aunty Kat. In Auē, she is a partially drawn character, seen through the eyes of the nephew she looks after, young Ārama, and feisty Beth. They see her spark, her love, her defensiveness, but also her bruises, meted out by Stuart Johnson, Uncle Stu, and never talked about. Never discussed.” You can read the full interview with Becky Manawatu here.
7. (RETURN) The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour & Jude Dobson (A&U)
It’s now more than 80 years since D-Day. Pippa Latour, who died in West Auckland late in 2023 aged 102, helped lay the groundwork for the operation’s success and the end of the war by acting as a secret agent in France for Britain during WWII.
“I was not a James Bond-style spy,” said Latour. “I was a secret agent whose job it was to blend into the background and cause quiet chaos.” It was exhausting work; she was unable to trust anyone, had several code names, and was often hungry. It was desperately perilous too. Many of the 13,000 SOEs were killed, including 14 women out of 39 in France. The average life expectancy of male wireless operators in France when she served was six weeks. Latour’s was a truly remarkable life all around, and The Last Secret Agent, co-written with Jude Dobson, is a clear and fluent account. Read the review here.
8. (9) Aroha by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Books)
The wisdom of 52 Māori proverbs explained by psychiatrist Hinemoa Elder in this bestselling book first released in 2020. An extract:
“Ko te mauri, he mea huna ki te moana – The life force is hidden in the sea.
“Powerful aspects of life are hidden in plain sight.
“This whakataukī stems from one of our famous ancestors from the north, Nukutawhiti. He cast his kura, his feathered cloak, into the Hokianga Harbour to calm the waters for safe passage. And this treasure remains there, out of sight, yet signifies the ancient presence of those that have gone before.
“This saying has given me strength so many times. I have always found it comforting because it speaks to the hidden magic of life.
“It reminds me of those things we feel intuitively but often ignore – we can choose to tune in to our gut instinct, for example, or wait until the messages become clearer and more obvious.
And it reminds me that we all have hidden powers inside us that we can too easily forget.”
9. (RETURN) View from the Second Row by Samuel Whitelock (HarperCollins)
All Blacks lock Sam Whitelock’s memoir begins with 14 full lines of the injuries he’s suffered playing rugby, the outcome of which was five surgeries under general anaesthetic. And then deciding to play in the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific final with an Achilles tendon injury. The most capped All Black in history speaks – with the help of sports journo Dylan Cleaver – about his career, which covers four World Cups and 153 appearances in the black jersey, his life and his family. Whitelock (he’s called Samuel by most of his family, Sam by his friends) knew when to toggle as captain between rooster and sheepdog, says ABs coach Scott Robertson in the foreword: leading from the front or guiding his flock. Whitelock has serious rugby lineage on both sides. He claims not to be a complicated guy: “family, footy and farming” are at the centre of his life.
10. (RETURN) Atua Wāhine by Hana Tapiata (HarperCollins)
Writer Hana Tapiata (Te Arawa, Ngati Awa, Ngati Porou, Waikato, Pākehā) is a mother and writer who lives by Māori philosophies “to explore wellness, self-determination and liberation”.
From the publisher: “Atua wahine are the Māori goddesses who make up the world around us: earth, fire, water, the moon and more. From the earth mother, Papatuanuku, who sustains and nurtures us to the goddess of peace, Hineputehue, who transformed pain into beauty, and the misunderstood goddess of the underworld, Hinenuitepo, who created purpose and enlightenment from betrayal – this book is a treasure of knowledge and insight.
“Drawing on whakatauki (proverbs) and purakau (traditional stories), discover how the wisdom of 17 atua wahine can help us live with courage and confidence in the modern world. With guided steps, these atua will inspire you to foster creativity, acknowledge cycles of change, and embrace self-determination.”
Source: Nielsen Bookscan NZ – week ending January 11
